Excavator bucket or scoop.



R. DOWNIE.

EXCAVATOR BUCKET 0R SCOOP. APPLICATION HLED FEB. 25, me.

1 237 878 Emma Aug. 21, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l R. NI. DOWNIE.

EXCAVATOR BUCKET 0R SCOOP.

APPLICATION HLED FEB.25.1916- 1 523mm, Patented Aug. 21, 191?.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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Alla/way ED %TATF% PAENT @FCE.

ROBERT M. DOWNIE,

OF BEAVER FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO KEYSTONE DRILLER COMPANY, OFBEAVER FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA,-A CORPORATION OF PENN SYLVANIA.

EXCAVATOR BUCKET OR SCOOP.

Specification of Letters latent.

Application filed February 25, 1916. Serial No. 80,479.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bonner M. DowNm, a citizen of the United States,residing at Beaver Falls, in the county of Beaver and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Excavator Bucket or Scoop,of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to excavator buckets or scoops, and itsobject is to provide a bucket or scoop supported by and movable along aboom so that the wearing action of the material being excavated uponmoving parts is reduced to a minimum, and all wear may be readily takenup, while the bucket may be adjusted to meet various conditions.

In accordance with the present invention the bucket is mounted to movelengthwise of a boom preferably of double channel or I form, with thecarrier for the bucket movable in the channels on opposite sides of theboom as upon tracks. The bucket is of the skimmer type, that is, it isintended to take up surface material by being moved lengthwise of theboom lying close to the surface to be acted upon by the bucket, whilethe latter is so constructed that the angle of the active end of thebucket to the surface to be removed may be varied as desired, either bytilting the bucket with relation to the boom, or tilting the bottom ofthe bucket with relation to the body of the bucket, or both expedientsmay be utilized. With such an arrangement the bucket is moved along thesurface to be excavated with the front edge of the bucket engaging suchsurface, whereby the loosened material engaged by the bucket is directedthereinto, and then by elevating the boom the bucket is so positioned asto retain the excavated material while the boom is swung to one side orthe other to the desired position, whereupon the bottom of the bucket,which is hinged to the body of the bucket, is released from retainingmeans and gravitates to a pendent position for dumping purposes. Withthe pres ent invention the bottom of the bucket, after the discharge ofthe contents of the bucket, may be made to close and lock without thenecessity of specialclosing mechanism.

Since the bucket is made to travel lengthwise of the boom along thetracks provided by the flanges of the I or other beams constituting theboom, and since material being excavated is liable to find lodgment onsuch tracks, the carriers are made to fit the tracks snugly so that in amanner they become selfcleaning, and wear is correspondingly lessened.Provision is made by the invention for taking up such wear as doesoccur, so that there may be maintained a sufliciently snug fit betweenthe carriers and the parts along which they move.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification, with thefurther understanding that while the drawings show a practical form ofthe invention, the latter is not confined to any strict conformity withthe showingof the drawings, but may be changed and modified so long assuch changes and modifications come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of the fore part of anexcavating machine with the bucket or scoop of the present inventionapplied, only such parts of the excavating machine-being shown as arenecessary for an understanding of the operation of the parts.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the rear end of the bucket with the boom shownin crosssection on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the bucket with the boom in the horizontalposition.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the bucket as seen from the right handside of Fig. 3, with the boom in cross-section and the forward hanger orsupporting bracket on one side of the bucket also in cross-section.

Fig. 5 is a section on theline 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the bucket showing the boom partly in plan viewand partly in section.

Referring to the drawings there is shown in Fig. 1 an excavating machine1 provided with a boom 2, the latter in the particular structure shownbeing made up of two I beams 3 connected together in spaced relation byplates 4, or in any other manner. The boom is pivoted at one end to thelower end of a post 5, in turn pivoted to brackets 6. The boom ismovable in an upright plane about its connection with the post 5, andthe latter is capable of swinging about an upright axis on the brackets6 and is under the control of a sheave 7 movable by means of a cable 8controlled by suitable mechanism, not shown. Near the outer or free endof the boom is a bracket 9 carrying a sheave 10 about which travels acable 11 connected at one end to one end of a link 12, the other end ofwhich is connected to the sheave 7.. The cable 11 is carried about adirection-changing sheave 13 on the post 5,

' and about another direction-changing sheave 14 on a fixed part of theexcavator structure, and ultimately leads to a winding-drum mechanism,indicated generally at 15, and controlled by suitable mechanism notshown.

The boom 2 also carries another directionchanging sheave 16 at the outeror free end,

about which sheave there extends a cable 17 carried around a sheave 18of the post 5,

scribed. The cable 8 controls the movements of the boom and partscarrying it about a vertical axis, so that the boom may be swung to oneside or the other of the excavating machine.

The parts so far described have to do with the operation of the bucket,but have nothing to do with the construction of the bucket itself, whichconstruction will now be described with more particular reference toFigs. 2 to 6.

The bucket has a body portion 19 which may be made of sheet metal ofsuitable gage bent to form two side members 20 and a rear member 21. Inthe particular construction shown the body of the bucket is made of asingle sheet of metal bent so that the junctions between the sidemembers and the rear member are rounded, as shown at 22, but these arefeatures of-construction which, while advantageous, are not obligatory,since the body of the bucket may be made of a plurality of piecessuitably connected together. The body of the bucket is open at thefront, top and bottom, with the front edges 23 of the sides of thebucket sloping forwardly from top to bottom. In referring to the partsof the bucket as top, bottom, front and rear, reference is made to thegeneral position of the bucket as illustrated in Figs. 2 to 6, whichrepresents approximately the position of the bucket when in theoperation of skimming the surface to be excavated, or of acting uponaccumulations of material to be removed.

' f The bucket or scoop is provided with a bottom 24 having pivotconnections 25 with 'thelower front ends of the sides 20 of the body ofthe scoop, and the bottom is of suflicient length to project beyond thefront or nose end of the scoop for a short distance, where it carries anumber of teeth 26, such as. are customarily provided with dredgingscoops. The under face of the scoop has runner bars 27 extendinglengthwise or in the direction of travel of the scoop, such runner barsserving to stiffen the bottom of the scoop. Extending outwardly from therear end of the dumping bottom 24 is a latch plate 28 riveted orotherwise made fast to the bottom. Also made fast to the under face ofthe bottom of the scoop is a rearwardly and downwardly extending block29. Fast to the rear wall 21 of the body of the scoop at a point aboutmidway of the scoop is a bracket 30 to which is pivoted a latch lever 31by means of a bolt 32 or otherwise. The latch lever has a latch. end ornose 33 in position to engage the latch plate 28 and lock the bottom 24in the closed position. The latch plate 28 and latch end 33 of the latchlever 31 are so related that the latch plate will readily snap intolocking relation to the latch end 33 to be there held until on themovement of the lever 31 the latch end 33 is moved out of the path ofthe plate 28, whereupon the bottom 24 will gravitate away from the bodyof the bucket to a distance depending upon the inclination of the bucketat the time. The block 29 is so situated in its rearward and downwardprojection from the rear end of the bottom 24 that its free or rear endis contiguous to and in a plane below the nose 33 of the latch leverwith that portion of the block fast to the bottom 24 in advance of thenose end of the latch lever, wherefore the block 29 serves as a latchguard protecting the nose end of the lever from engagement with thesurface being excavated. The latch lever 31 is pro vided with a seriesof perforations 34, through any one of which the bolt 32 may be passed,so that the latch or nose end 33 of the latch lever will be located atdifferent distances from the pivot bolt 32, thus correspondingly varyingthe angle of the bottom 24 to the body of the bucket. This bottom 24 isof a size to permit it to enter the body of the bucket through the lowerend of the latter, but its extent of entrance is limited by a bumperplate 35 traversing an opening 36 in the rear wall of the body of thebucket and into which opening the latch plate 28 may enter. The bumperplate 35 is held by bolts 37 extending through suitable perforations 38in the rear wall 21, and these perforations are so arranged that theelevation of the bumper plate may be varied accordingly, thus permittinga corresponding change in the latch lever. By this means the dip of thecutting teeth 26 with respect to the bucket may be regulated to suithardbolt 32 remote from the nose 33 is traversed horizontal position.

by a pin 36 carrying a spring 37 between the rear wall of the back ofthe bucket and the latch lever, so that the nose 33 is always yieldablyurged into the path of the latch plate. At a convenient point on therear of the bucket there is secured a bracket 38- carrying a lever 39provided with a pin end 40 entering eyes 41 on the corresponding end ofthe latch lever, so that upon a rocking movement of the lever 39 thelatch lever is also rocked in opposition to the spring 37 in a directionto carry the latch nose 33 out of the path of the latch plate, thusreleasing the bottom 24. The lever 39 is formed at the end remote fromthe end 40 with an eye 42 for the attachment of a jerk line 43 carriedto some convenient point on the machine or vehicle 1, so that anoperator on the vehicle may cause the unlatching of the bottom 24 andthe dumping of the bucket at any time desired.

The front portion of the bucket is secured rigidly to the ends of alaterally extended rigid hanger 44 having suitably spaced upstandingarms 45 connected by a yoke 46 so that the hanger, which extendslaterally across the bucket, is an effectively one-piece structure withthe arms 45 on opposite sides of the boom and exterior to the outsidechannels of the boom. Since it is only the outside channels of the boomthat are utilized, it will be apparent that the boom may be made up ofchannel beams instead of I beams, but these are matters ofconstructional detail which need not be particularly referred to. Eacharm 45 is provided with a series vof perforations 47 for stud bolts 48made fast to the arms by nuts 49 with the stud ends 50 entering thecorresponding channels at the outer sides of the boom. The stud boltseach enter one end of a corresponding slide spacing bar 51 elongated inthe direction of the length of the boom and oppositely inclined on thebottom edge, as shown at 52, the inclined surfaces meeting at about themiddle of thespacing bar and there being at the greatest distance fromthe corresponding flange of the respective channel of the boom, suchflange being the bottom flange when the boom is in a substantially Fastto what constitutes the upper edge of the spacing bar is a shoe 53 whichmay be about as long as the spacing bar and is secured thereto by screws54 or otherwise. The shoe 53 is made of wood or some other anti-frictionmaterial, which may or may not be of a fibrous nature like wood.

Between the slanting or angle edges 52 of the spacing or spacer bar 51and the lower flange member of the respective channel of the boom areslide members or shoes 55 also of wood or other anti-friction material,and these slide members 55 are wedge-shaped with their slanting edgesengaging the slant- &

ing edges 52 of the spacer bar. Each wedge 55 has an angle plate 56 madefast thereto by screws 57 or otherwise, and one web of each angle platelies against the outer face of the corresponding portion of thespacerbar 51. Those flanges of the angle plates which bear against thespacer bar have each a longitudinal slot 58 traversed by bolts 59carried by the spacer bar and provided with nuts 60 by which the angleplates are clamped fast to the spacer bar and by which they may beloosened therefrom. The flanges of the channels of the boom in which theslides move are provided with replaceable tracks 61 which may beconveniently made of flat bars of metal, so in the case of wear suchwear comes upon the tracks and not upon the boom. When wear does occurit is readily taken up by adjusting the wedges 55 so that the slides mayalways move snugly along the boom, and yet with sufficient freedom forthe purposes of the invention.

The rear end of the bucket is supported by rigid hangers 62 riveted orotherwise made rigidly fast to the rear of the-bucket and risingtherefrom and connected by bolts 63 or otherwise to what constitutes therear ends of the spacer bars 51. Each hanger 62 has but one boltconnection 63 to the spacer bar, so that the hanger may pivot about thebolt to permit the raising and lowering of the front end of the bucket,which raising and lowering is provided for by the series of holes orpassages 47 in the upstanding arms 45 onthe front hanger. The adjustmentthus provided for the front. of the bucket is advantageous in providingfor deep or shallow cutting, while the adjustment of the bottom of thebucket provides for the inclination of the teeth whether the bucketitself be adjusted for deep or shallow cutting.

In the operation of the bucket the latter is assumed to be at that endof the boom toward the excavating machine, and the outer end of the boomis lowered until the teeth of the bucket are in entering relation to thesurface to be excavated. By the application of power to the cable 17 thebucket is drawn along the boom toward the outer end of the latter withthe cutting teeth 26 entering the ground and loosening the latter, sothat the loosened earth moves into the bucket as the latter is in turnmoved along the surface of the ground. When the bucket is full, at whichtime it has been drawn toward the front end of the boom, the latter islifted by the cable 11 until the bucket is so inclined that its frontend is lifted and the rear end is at a lower level, thus retaining thegathered earth in the bucket. By the action of the cable 8 the boom isswung about its upright axis of movement to one side or the other untilthe bucket is located over the point where it is desired to release thedirt contained in it. Then the jerk line 43 is manipulated, thus movingthe latch lever in a direction to carry the nose 33 out of engagementwith the latch plate 28 and the weight of the bottom 24, as well as theweight of the dirt contained in the bucket,

causes the bottom 24 to swing away from the bucket, thus releasing theexcavated earth, and the latter falls into a suitable receptacle or at asuitable place where it is desired to deposit the earth. In thisposition of the parts the boom has an upward inclination, and then by amovement of the cable 11 the bottom 24 may be caused to swing toward theclosed position to be caught in the closed position by the latch end 33of the lever 31, whereupon by slackening the cable 17 the bucket willgravitate toward the lower or pivoted end of the boom ready to be againdrawn lengthwise of the boom when in engagement with the surface to beexcavated.

The latch guard 29 is provided to prevent the surface over which thebucket is drawn from engaging the nose end 33 of the latch lever, and byfrictional action move the latchlever to the released position.

The shoes of wood or other suit-able material have sufficientanti-friction characteristics to permit a relatively snug fit withoutbinding, so that the weight of the bucket 1s ample to cause it to traveltoward the lower end of the boom, when the latter is inclined, solely bythe action of gravity. At the same time the fit of the shoes issufliciently snug to prevent any undue accumulations of sand or clay orother material liable to cut the sliding parts, so that suchaccumulations are in a large measure wiped off. However, there is somewear, but this wear is relatively slow and by occasionally taking it upby adjustments of the wedges 55 the slides may be maintained in goodworking condition. Ultimately, however, the wooden shoes become so wornthat they must be replaced, butthis is a simple and inexpensiveoperation, since the shoe 53 is removed from the spacer bar on removalof the screws 54, and the wedges 55 are removed from the-spacer bar byremoving the nuts 60, and then new shoes are readily substituted.Ultimately the tracks or runways 61 become sufficiently worn to warranttheir renewal, and this may be done inexpensively, since the boom itself.is not at all subjected to wear.

What is claimed is 1. An excavating bucket provided with a dumpingbottom hinged to the body of the bucket at the front end thereof andprovided with cutting teeth at its front .end, said dumping bottom andbucket body having coacting latch means for holdlng .the bottom in theclosed position, said bottom being of a width and length with respect tothe body of the, bucket to enter the mergers latter, and the latch meanson the bucket 2. An excavating bucket provided with a dumping bottomhaving earth-entering means and hinged to the body of the bucket, saidbottom and bucket body having means for holding the dumping bottom inthe closed position in different degrees of pitch with relation to thebucket to correspondingly vary the inclination of the earth-enteringmeans with respect to the line of travel of the bucket in excavating.

3. An excavating bucket provided with a dumping bottom hinged near thefront end to the bucket and beyond the front end of the bucket providedwith cutting teeth, a portion of the dumping bottom underriding the bodyof the bucket being of less length and width than the body of the bucketto there enter the latter, and coacting means on the bucket body anddumping bottom for holding the latter in difierent relations of pitchwith respect to the body of the bucket to correspondingly vary theinclination of the teeth with respect to the line of travel of thebucket in excavating.

4. An excavating bucket provided with a dumping bottom hinged near thefront ing therebeyond and provided at the front edge with cutting teeth,the rear end of the dumping bottom and the rear end of the bucket havingcoacting latch means with the latch means on the bucket adjustabletoward and from the bottom of the bucket to correspondingly tilt thedumping bottom when in the closed position to vary the inclination ofthe cutting teeth with respect to the line of travel of the bucket inexcavating. Y

'5. An excavating bucket provided with a dumping bottom having anearth-entering end and said bottom being movable into and out of thebucket body, and means for adjusting the bottom in the closed positioninto different angles of inclination with respect to the body of thebucket to come spondingly vary the entering angle of the earth-enteringend of the bottom of the bucket.

6. An excavating bucket having a dumping bottom hinged to the front endof the bucket near the front end of the dumping bottom and with thefront end of the dumping bottom provided with earth entering means, alatch member on the rear end of the dumping bottom, and another latchmember on the rear end of the body of the bucket adjustable in thedirection of the height of the bucket to vary the angle of inclinationof the bottom of the bucket in the closed position with respect to thebody of the bucket.

7. An excavating bucket having a dumping bottom hinged to the front endof the bucket near the front end of'the dumping bottom and with thefront end of the dumping bottom provided with cutting teeth, a latchmember on the rear end of the dumping bottom, and another latch memberon the rear end of the body of the bucket adjustable in the direction ofthe height of the bucket to vary the angle ofinclination of the bottomof the bucket in the closed position with respect to the body of thebucket, the rear end of the bucket being provided with a notch or recessfor the entry of the latch means on the dumping bottom and the latterbeing of a size to enter the bottom of the bucket.

8. An excavating bucket having a dumping bottom hinged to the front endof the bucket near the front end of the dumping bottom and with thefront end of the dumping bottom provided with cutting teeth, a latchmember on ing bottom, and another latch member on the rear end of thebody of the bucket adjustable in the bucket to vary the angle. ofinclination of the bottom of the bucket in the closed the body of theposition with respect to the bucket belng bucket, the rear end ofprovided with a notch or recess for the entry of the latch means on thedumping bottom and the latter being of a size to enter the bottom of thebucket, and the body of the bucket having an adjustable bumper plateassociated with the notch to limit the entering movement of the bottomof the bucket into thebody of the bucket.

9. An excavating bucket, comprising a body member with a dumping bottom,a latch member on and projecting outwardly from the rear end of thedumping bottom, a vertically-disposed latch member at the rear of thebody member and provided with a nose for engaging the first-named latchmember, said nose end projecting below the dumping bottom, and a latchguard on the under face of the dumping bottom projecting in rear thereofcontiguous to and in a plane below and in advance of the nose of thelatch member on the body of the bucket, thereby to protect said nose endfrom engagement with the surface being excavated. 10. In an excavatingmachine, a boom having longitudinally extended runways thereon, and anexcavating bucket or scoop carried by the boom for travel lengthwisetherethe rear end of the dumpthe direction of the height of of, saidbucket being provided with slides adapted to the runways of the boom,and suspending devices carried by the slides and spaced apart on thelatter lengthwise of the boom, one suspending device being pivoted tothe slides and the other suspending device being connected to the slidesfor tilting the bucket with respect to its line of travel along theboom, said bucket being also provided with a dumping bottom hinged tothe body of the bucket and provided with cutting teeth, and said bucketand bottom havlatch means adjustable with respect to the bucket forholding the dumping bottom in diflferent degrees of inclination to thebody of the bucket.

11. In an excavating machine, a boom, and an excavating bucket carriedby and movable lengthwise of the boom, said bucket having means forvarying its inclination with respect to the direction of travel alongthe boom and also being provided with a dumping bottom having earthentering means thereon with the dumping bottom and bucket body providedwith means for holding the dumping b0tt0m in the closed position indifierent degrees of inclination with respect to the body of the bucket.

12. In an excavating machine, an excavating bucket provided with adumping bottom hinged thereto and having excavating means at the frontend, said bucket and dumping bottom having coacting latch means forholding the bottom in the closed position, the latch means on the bucketcomprising a latch lever adjustable in the height of the bucket to varythe inclination of the dumping bottom to the body of the bucket.

13. In an excavating machine, an excavating bucket provided with adumping bottom hinged thereto and having excavating teeth at the frontend, said bucket and dumping bottom having coacting latch means forholding the bottom in the closed position, the latch means on the bucketcomprising a latch lever adjustable in the height of the bucket to varythe inclination of the dumping bottom to the body of the bucket, and thelatch lever having means for its actuation to the unlatched positionirrespective of the adjustment of the latch lever up and down of thebucket body.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

ROBERT M. D'OWNIE.-

ing coacting Witnesses:

CHARLES THEO. SMITH, R. G. FORBES.

